Owning a restaurant is a great deal of work, and there are many responsibilities that come with it. From set up to hiring on proper management staff- there is much work to do. One major responsibility of a restaurant owner is making sure you are well acquainted with state and federal employee laws. Whether that is your state’s minimum wage, over time or tips, there are some basic laws across the board that usually come into play. Understanding and making sure that you are in compliance with these laws will prevent you from having to deal with some major fines in most cases.

Employment of minors always carries some risk, however, it is usually a cost effective way to make sure that you are adequately staffed. The hours and job position that most states allow minors to work are pretty similar, however, they do vary from state to state in some ways. For instance, in Maine, a minor employee can work at fifteen, however, they cannot use or even pick up knives or serve liquor until they are seventeen. It is also usually imperative to adhere to a minimum hours guideline- and understand those may change through out the year in respect to school hours. You have to always ensure a minors age, as well- make sure that you have not only drivers license, social security card, but a birth certificate as well to verify age. Another example of workers that you will have to verify eligibility are alien workers. Immigrants also have restrictions on employment and require more documentation to prove that they are able to work- you verify this through checking a visa or work permit.

Minimum wage usually varies by state, but you as a restaurant owner have probably already checked with your local government to find out what that is- in some states, though, you do have to change the way servers are paid, as they collect tips. As far as tips go, those always belong to the employee themselves. Though in some restaurants there are tip pools where the employees put all of their tips together and divide them equally- this is actually a practice that is to be voluntary and is not enforceable. Employers cannot make their employees use this, and that is something that not many people are actually aware of.

As far as overtime goes- this is any hours worked above the usual forty hour work week. If an employee works those hours- they are to get time and a half. It’s always best to limit overtime because this is one way you will have a great deal of loss through payroll- even if an employee volunteers to work overtime at normal wage- it’s still the law that employers pay the time and a half.

These are just a few of the legal areas that restaurant owners have to be able to be very clear and adhere to given standards in practice. Making sure that you are not only aware of them but keeping practice will help your business to run more smoothly.